This year’s Sydney Underground Film Festival Opening Night selection was the latest from controversial French filmmaker Gaspar Noe, presented, for the first time in the festival’s history, in the desired 3D format. Love premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year and true to the filmmakers reputation (he’s the guy that made the brilliant but often-unwatchable Irreversible and Enter the Void), was met with mixed reactions. Mostly negative, unfairly. Having thought about the film for a day now I have continued to appreciate the boundary-pushing approach to an intensely-passionate sexual relationship, the uncomfortably candid but empathetic study of how co-dependence and toxic influence can be both orgasmic and destructive, and the film’s interesting and aesthetically successful use of 3D.

Not at all the 3D porno such an indulgence could have surrendered to being, it is actually a emotionally-charged drama about regret and despair – and the battle between enlightenment and disillusionment with the co-existence of love and sex. It is the story of a young man still trapped in the lingering whirlwind of an all-encompassing sexual relationship with the likely love of his life – and dealing with the fact that she has gone and accepting who he needs to be in the next chapter of his life.Continue reading »

Dragons and Vikings living together? Before Hiccup found Toothless that was laughable, but now that’s just normal life. Revisit the Vikings of Berk and their fantastic dragons in How to Train Your Dragon 2. Review after the jump.

Mysteries of the Unseen World is a journey into the unseen world which we inhabit. Too fast, too slow, too small and invisible – there is so much in our world which we simply do not, or cannot see. Thanks to incredible technology such as time-lapse photography, electron microscopes, ultra violet light and high-speed photography, we are able to see, study and discover things which were once hidden in plain sight.

In this fascinating 40 minute documentary from National Geographic and an award-winning film crew, we are shown amazing footage and imagery such as the surprising beauty of popcorn popping, the incredible dragonfly and it’s four wings which can all move in different directions at the same time, the astounding beauty of our planet through time-lapse photography, and the incredible, but slightly horrifying look at various animal body parts (such as a fruit fly’s eye and the skin of a shark) magnified by up to a million times.

This is a fantastic film to catch at the IMAX as the stunning images are enhanced by the screen’s immense size. I was entertained, educated and more than a little grossed out by some of the amazing images – once you’ve seen a caterpillar’s mouth up that close, it’s hard to erase that image from your mind. Let’s just say that we should be very glad that they’re not any bigger….*shudder*.

Unseen World 3D is screening at IMAX Darling Harbour from Thursday 27 February. For more information and tickets, please visit the IMAX website.

Currently screening at IMAX is the fantastic documentary Great White Shark. By showing the shark’s in their natural environment and place at the top of the oceanic food-chain, the film attempts to take away their “villain” tag” and show them for the beautiful, important creatures that the scientists, researchers and lovers of the ocean in this film believe they are.

Filmed over three years in digital 3D at beautiful locations such as Stewart Island in New Zealand and Mexico’s legendary Guadalupe Island, the film is an immersive, breathtaking cinema experience. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken to such amazing locations to see the incredible creatures swimming in their own environment. There is something quite impressive about seeing a giant Great White glide past you on the IMAX screen.

The film is narrated by Bill Nighy, who quite frankly, I would listen to read the phone book. He’s fantastic. Great White Shark is suitable for all ages, as the film does not to show anything frightening or bloody, so to keep the film accessible for the youngest of film-goers.

Educational without being preachy and informative while still being entertaining and impressive, this is a documentary worth catching at your local IMAX.

Great White Shark is currently screening at IMAX Melbourne and opens on January 9th at IMAX Darling Harbour.

The closest thing to seeing Metallica in concert, but with a view that you’d never get, even in your wildest dreams, Metallica: Through The Never is the ultimate cinema experience for any Metallica fan. My review after the jump.

For years Earth has fought the Kaiju, giant monsters that come from deep below the ocean and rise up seemingly at random along the Pacific Rim. Millions have been killed, and some of the world’s greatest cities are gone. Review of Pacific Rim after the jump.

Superhero films have ceased being colourful and joyful fun-fests. They’ve evolved into morose descents into the human psyche that question the lengths men will go to save lives, even if it means giving up their own. We see a new entry into this dark criteria with Man Of Steel, the new attempt at a Superman film with Zack Snyder directing and David S Goyer on screenplay and Christopher Nolan producing and co-writing the story. Do we get the same ugly yet truthful and complex portrayal of a man transformed into a hero all in the name of preventing evil from reaching humanity? Find out after the jump.